Searching for an Agent Who May OR May Not Want to be Found

Steve Alpern () and Shmuel Gal ()
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Steve Alpern: Department of Mathematics, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom
Shmuel Gal: Department of Statistics, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel

Operations Research, 2002, vol. 50, issue 2, 311-323

Abstract: There is an extensive theory regarding optimal continuous path search for a mobile or immobile “target.” The traditional theory assumes that the target is one of three types: (i) an object with a known distribution of paths, (ii) a mobile or immobile hider who wants to avoid or delay capture, or (iii) a rendezvouser who wants to find the searcher. This paper introduces a new type of search problem by assuming that aims of the target are not known to the searcher. The target may be either a type (iii) cooperator (with a known cooperation probability c ) or a type (ii) evader. This formulation models search problems like that for a lost teenager who may be a “runaway,” or a lost intelligence agent who may be a defector. In any given search context, it produces a continuum of search problems (tau)( c ), 0 (le) c (le) 1, linking a zero-sum search game (with c = 0) to a rendezvous problem (with c = 1). These models thus provide a theoretical bridge between two previously distinct parts of search theory, namely search games and rendezvous search.

Keywords: Search; and; surveillance:; search; for; agent; of; unknown; aims (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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